There was a different vibe to the 2022 National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship Tournament, seemingly with as many reasons for that as there were days between May 4, 2019 and May 1, 2022.
That was how long it had been since full fan attendance was allowed for the NCAA Men’s Volleyball Tournament, from when Long Beach State defeated Hawaii at The Walter Pyramid until when North Greenville and Princeton opened the 52nd tourney some 34 miles up the I-405 at Pauley Pavilion.
But it was not just the fans returning but the joy of the sport as well. It was epitomized by North Greenville becoming the first Conference Carolinas team to win an NCAA Tournament match via a 25-21, 25-18, 40-38 sweep on May 1.
The Crusaders, making their NCAA debut, doubled up their entry into the history book with the Set 3 score the longest in tournament history. To paraphrase Dr. Fred Battenfield, the retiring NGU coach: “Let there be milkshakes!”
That was how the Crusaders planned to celebrate their 120-minute milestone before getting ready for what Battenfield would call “the honor and privilege” of playing the defending national champion: Hawaii.
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Both teams were on a similar mission — advance and then worry about the other side of the bracket — but practices were decidedly different. The Warriors’ routine was focused, very businesslike but with moments of levity during the allotted court time. Helping add to the looseness was when 5-foot-7 libero ‘Eleu Choy stuffed 6-9 opposite Alaka’i Todd at the end of one practice.
It was in direct contrast with the Carnaval (note this is spelled correctly) atmosphere of NGU with its five starters from Puerto Rico and various types of island music — merengue, salsa, bomba, plena — blasting during practices.
The Crusaders’ party ended quickly on May 3, 25-15, 25-17, 25-16, in what would be the Warriors’ third straight sweep (Hawaii also did not drop a set in two Big West Tournament matches). Highlighting the 80 minutes was junior setter Jakob Thelle becoming the program’s all-time ace leader as Mark Presho — who shared the record with Clay Stanley of 54 — watched; Presho’s son Kyler was a graduate student on the Warriors roster.
Then on to the semifinals, where second-seeded Ball State was waiting, having had a bye into the May 5 contest. The Cardinals, behind first-year coach Donan Cruz (Baldwin) were experiencing a similar high to that of North Greenville, returning to the tournament for the first time since 2002.
There was joy and purpose for Ball State, looking to advance to its first championship match after 15 times of not finishing higher than third. The Cardinals had defeated the then-No. 1 Warriors twice in late January in Muncie, Ind.
But this wasn’t Worthen Arena and this wasn’t the same Hawaii team that had been missing starters Thelle and middle Guilherme Voss (COVID-19 protocols), and hitter Chaz Galloway (injury), as well as key reserve hitter Filip Humler (injury).
The match was delayed by an hour, courtesy of top-seeded Long Beach State needing nearly 2 1/2 hours to pull off a reverse sweep of host UCLA, 18-25, 18-25, 25-14, 25-10, 16-14. There were two givens: The winner would be playing The Beach on a neutral court and it was going to be a battle.
There also would be no third straight sweep for the Warriors, who found themselves down 26-28, 25-19, 25-20. A third given came into play: If Hawaii wanted a chance to successfully defend its title on May 7, the Warriors also would have to go Cinco Sets on Cinco de Mayo.
It was well past midnight in Muncie when the Warriors wore down the Cardinals. Hawaii had leads of 8-3 and 21-17 in a dominating 25-20 Set 4 win. Thelle added to his ace record with two that had the Warriors out 4-0 and it was pretty much over, the leads growing to 9-3 and 10-5. Hawaii fended off a late BSU rally, advancing when UH coach Charlie Wade’s challenge on the Warriors’ third match point overturned the original call of a 15-11 win.
Had it not been for the video replay challenge system, it could have just as easily been UCLA and Ball State playing for the championship. The Bruins would be going for their 20th, and first since 2006, and the Cardinals their first.
Instead it was the two teams from the top-rated conference, meeting for a title for the second Saturday in three weeks. On April 23 in Honolulu, the Warriors had swept the Beach for the NCAA auto bid, 27-25, 28-26, 25-23.
There was nothing neutral-site on May 7 with Warrior Nation showing up, ti leaves and signs waving, and loudly joining with the team to sing “Hawai’i Pono’i.” The announced crowd of 5,784 — about 1,000 fewer than watched the same teams two weeks earlier — was decidedly pro-Warriors, despite Long Beach State fans having a short drive and Hawaii fans needing to cross an ocean.
Unlike their two 3-1 losses at The Pyramid in April, the Warriors did not flinch when the Beach began cutting into leads. Hawaii gave assistant coach Josh Walker his best parting gift by following the game plan nearly flawlessly (Walker is taking the assistant’s job for the Baylor women).
The Warriors outblocked the Beach 8-1, including two straight in Set 3 that put Hawaii up for good at 17-16. The Warriors needed just one swing to end it, an overpass of reserve setter Jack Walmer’s serve slammed back by Spyros Chakas with Long Beach State setter Aidan Knipe called for the net violation when trying to block Chakas, and giving Hawaii its second straight 3-0 win in the NCAA title match. (The Warriors also swept BYU last May at Columbus, Ohio, with multiple attendance restrictions).
Chakas was named the Most Outstanding Player, joining Warriors Yuval Katz (1996, runner-up), Costas Theocharidis (2002, title later vacated) and Rado Parapunov (2021 title).
Hawaii became the fifth consecutive program to win back-to-back championships, joining UC Irvine (2012-13), Loyola Chicago (2014-15), Ohio State (2016-17) and Long Beach State (2018-19).
Most gratifying to Thelle was the ability to repeat after losing four All-America honorees from a team that was expected to win. He said this championship was sweeter because of the hard work the team put in when proving the doubters wrong and proving the no-doubters in their locker room so very right.